The American Top Team-based Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt won for
the sixth time in eight outings, as he snatched a split decision
over former World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion
Jamie
Varner at
UFC 164 “Henderson vs. Pettis 2” on Saturday at the BMO Harris
Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Two of the cageside judges saw it
29-28 for Tibau (28-9, 13-7 UFC); a third cast a dissenting 29-27
ruling for Varner (21-8-1, 3-3 UFC).

Tibau countered effectively in the first round and wore down the
Arizona Combat Sports representative with takedowns and
ground-and-pound for much of the first 10 minutes. He was
particularly dominant in round two, where he seamlessly
transitioned between back mount and full mount. In the third,
Varner brought about a momentum shift. He ripped into the hulking
Brazilian with brutal body punches and backed up a ringing right
uppercut with a takedown of his own. However, the finish he needed
failed to materialize.

Elliott Overwhelms ‘Goodnight’ Gaudinot

Exquisite transitions from striking to takedowns coupled with a
ruthless top game propelled Grindhouse MMA’s Tim Elliott
to a lopsided unanimous verdict over former Ring of Combat champion
Louis
Gaudinot in an undercard tilt at 125 pounds. Elliott (10-3-1,
2-1 UFC) swept the scorecards by 30-27, 30-26 and 30-26 counts.

Gaudinot (6-3, 1-2 UFC) never established himself as a threat.
Elliott did what he wanted when he wanted, ripping into the Team
Tiger Schulmann representative with punching combinations, knees
and standing elbows in close quarters. Once Elliott moved to the
ground, he put Gaudinot through the meat grinder. Punches,
hammerfists and elbows fell with relentless regularity, putting
more and more distance between Elliott and his quarry

Brutish Lim Blitzes, Stops Krauss

Photo: Ed
Mulholland/Zuffa LLC/Getty

Lim mugged Krauss and put him away.

Korean Top Team’s Hyun Gyu
Lim wiped out Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder
Pascal
Krauss with a vicious knee strike and follow-up punches in an
undercard encounter at 170 pounds. Lim (12-3-1, 2-0 UFC) drew it to
a close 3:58 into round one, as he delivered his seventh straight
win in emphatic fashion.

Krauss (11-2, 2-2 UFC) was simply outgunned. A crackling right hand
from Lim put set him on wobbly legs and had the dazed German
stumbling all over the Octagon. The 28-year-old Korean pursued with
controlled aggression, backed Krauss into the cage and unleashed
the knee that led to the stoppage.

“Right now, I have nothing to say. I’m just very thankful. I worked
very hard for this,” Lim said through a translator. “I knew that he
would come in aggressively, so I was practicing the counter
aggressively.”

Kang (11-7, 0-1 UFC) grounded the Milwaukee native in all three
rounds but failed to exact much of a toll with his top game. Camus
nearly cinched a rear-naked choke and exploded with punches near
the end of round two and came close to a finish in the waning
seconds of the third, where he blasted Kang with an upkick and
swarmed with follow-up punches.

Palelei Outlasts Newcomer Krylov

Australian Fighting Championship titleholder Soa Palelei
stopped Ukrainian newcomer Nikita
Krylov on third-round strikes from the mount in a heavyweight
clash that was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Krylov
(15-3, 0-1 UFC) succumbed to a combination of fatigue and punches
94 seconds into round three.

Palelei (19-3, 1-1 UFC) struck for takedowns throughout the
quagmire, survived exhaustion and a second-round volley from his
21-year-old counterpart and mounted enough of a surge in the third
to bring it to a close. The 25-year-old Australian countered an
attempted takedown from Krylov, slugged him into a kneeling
position with punches, stepped into full mount and iced it from
there. Palelei has finished nine consecutive opponents.

Returning Iaquinta Batters Couture

Heavy power punching combinations, takedowns and ground-and-pound
carried “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 15 finalist Al Iaquinta
to a unanimous decision over Ryan
Couture in an undercard battle at 155 pounds. All three
cageside judges scored it 30-27 for Iaquinta (6-2-1, 1-1 UFC), who
had not fought in more than a year.

Couture (6-3, 0-2 UFC) was game but could not match the Serra-Longo
Fight Team representative’s firepower. Iaquinta lit into him with
punching volleys in all three rounds, pairing a high-octane standup
attack with a series of takedowns. The 26-year-old nearly finished
it in round three, where he battered Couture along the cage and
drew blood with a savage standing elbow.

Cedenblad Guillotine Submits Hamman

Swedish import Magnus
Cedenblad won for the eighth time in nine bouts, as he
submitted Jared
Hamman with a first-round guillotine choke in a brief
middleweight scrap. Hamman (13-6, 2-5) conceded defeat 57 seconds
into round one.

Cedenblad (11-4, 1-1 UFC) countered an attempted takedown from the
Vladimir
Matyushenko protégé, trapped the 31-year-old Californian in the
guillotine and rolled into full mount for the tapout. Hamman has
lost three fights in a row, all of them finishes.